I've never been as happy to bonk in a workout as I was this Sunday. While I probably should be sad and realize this showed how out-of-shape I am, I took the positive view that it indicated I am finally able to work hard enough over the course of a week to be good and truly tired.

On Sunday morning, I had gone to the JCC and done an aerobic version of my 2 mile treadmill version, as well as the stretch cord portion of my shoulder PT routine. I went back in the afternoon, with the aim of attempting my 3 x 300 test set followed by a USRPT set of IM 25s. I swam well through the same 1,750 warmup as I had done on Saturday (http://forums.usms.org/entry.php?412...00-IM-test-set!) and then launched into 3 x 300 on 4:00, aiming to hold a consistent, 'best average' pace across the set. The data below shows prior SCY performances:

12-13-13 - 3:25, 3:23, 3:20, 3:14 (went 4 for some reason)

02-27-14 - 3:16, 3:12, 3:10+

05-21-14 - 3:14+, 3:10, 3:06

01-04-16 - 3:16, 3:15, 3:14

01-20-16 - 3:11+, 3:09, 3:06

02-03-16 - 3:09, 3:09, 3:11

11-20-16 - 3:09, 3:10+, 3:09

12-03-16 - 3:08+, 3:09, 3:08++

... but I knew I'd be nowhere near those times. I didn't feel too bad on the first one (even though it was slow compared to the above) and then just fell apart from there:

11-05-17 - 3:31, 3:35, 3:44

Needless to say, I was limping into the wall on that last one and traded my set of USRPT 25s for a long set of UHT - Ultra Hot Tub

Monday is now my ideal rest day and I really enjoyed doing nothing other than a dog walk and my ~30 minute gentle yoga + meditation routine. I was back at the pool this morning for a long workout, the main set being the 'Hackett 200' set done as IMs:

Outside of the super-suit era (yeah, like 8 or so years ago), I did my best SCM IM performances in the fall of 2013, so, as I try to get back into IM racing shape, I looked back to this week four years ago and found the perfect workout to start off my week: doing the "Grant Hackett 200" test set with the hard efforts as IMs, repeating the same workout I did on 2013-09-14 (http://forums.usms.org/entry.php?30240-Hacking-IMs):

Warmup sets (800):

1 x 200: IM k/d

4 x 50: on 0:50, w/snorkel, gentle descend free

8 x 25: on 0:35 odds/evens, w/monofin

#1 - 2 breaths moderate

#2 - 0 breaths build

#3 - 1 breath moderate

#4 - 0 breaths fast

4 x 50: on 1:00, IM order, build to semi-fast

Was 0:38+, 0:40, 0:45, 0:36

Hackett 200 Test Set (2,000)

16 x 50: on 0:50, every 4th one at target 200 race pace

09/14/13 - IM - 35, 35+, 41, 32+ = 2:24

09/12/17 - IM - 37+, 38, 44, 35 = 2:34+

1:00 rest

12 x 50: on 0:55, every 3rd at target race pace

09/14/13 - IM - 34+, 34, 40, 31+ = 2:20

09/12/17 - IM - 37+, 38+, 43, 35 = 2:34

1:00 rest

8 x 50: on 1:00 every other one at target race pace

09/14/13 - IM - 33, 34, 40, 31 = 2:18

09/12/17 - IM - 37, 37++, 43, 34 = 2:31++

1:00 rest

4 x 50: on 1:05, all at target race pace

09/13/13 - IM - 31+, 34, 39+,31 = 2:16

09/12/17 - IM - 35, 37, 42+, 34 = 2:28+

Cool-Down (200)

4 x 50: active recovery w/snorkel on 0:50, 0:55, 1:00

TOTAL: 3,000 SCM

Comments:

While it definitely felt good to try to go hard again, the clock is a brutal mistress.